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Dad's shop

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Brass_Machine:
Nice shop! Lots of nice tools in there. Envious!

Eric

Paddy OFernichur:
The surface grinder has a semi-interesting little story too. I was working a job in southwest Connecticut back in late 2009. The shop owner had recently bought the assets and customer base of a friendly competitor, and included in the sale was that surface grinder and several other machines that were already spoken for. I expressed and interest in the surface grinder. The shop owner suggested we could barter a bit. I know CNC single-spindle sliding headstock machines (a.k.a. Swiss machines) pretty good and he had one that he and his foreman didn't know how to get running.

It seems the shop owner's son who did know had moved up to Maine. The proposal was that I spend a day with the two of them showing them how to start, setup, program and run the old Citizen F20, we could work a deal on the surface grinder. He was otherwise asking $1000 for it, but it had nothing other than the one 7" wheel and a mag chuck. Fair enough, it was in great shape and clean.



I showed up on a Saturday morning to train them. In 4-1/2 hours I got them comfortable with the machine, setting tools, the program structure and running it. He was happy, his lead man was happy. "When are you coming for your machine?" was what he then asked of me. I told him I could be there on Tuesday, and asked how much money was due. "We're square, just come get it out of here."

That Tuesday I took a vacation day from work, rented a small lift-gate truck and picked up dad. The shop owner and a couple of his guys helped load it in, my two sons and a neighbor all pitched in to get it off thetruck and in where you see it. Total cost was $271 for the truck and all expenses, which included a couple of BIG ratchet tie-down straps. The interesting thing is that when the Red Sox announced their new manager last fall, the name and face rang a bell. It turns out we got the surface grinder from Bobby Valentine's big brother Joe. No wonder he's such a nice guy, Bobby is just like his brother!

I later added the OE spec coolant/dust collector unit, a dozen more wheel adapter/arbors, a dozen or so different wheels, magnetic parallels, a couple of dressing diamonds, and a Phase II radius/angle dresser (another Craigslist ad, $40.) Dad added a few angle irons and a spindexer. Most recently my next-door neighbor made the guard for the table, I only had to paint it red and let him use my power washer at home. We're ready for almost anything that fits on the machine now.

steamman:
Hi when your Dad uses the shop what does he make or Repair it is a very nice shop with some good tools in it if I had a shop as big as his I would probably live in it  and Possibly Sleep in it ,I am so envious. 

Paddy OFernichur:
My dad is a 79 year old retired moldmaker/toolmaker. In his work days, he made molds for thermoset plastics, injection molding, and later stamping dies for Suisse Feinblanker machines. All of it without the aid of CNC or wire EDM! The dies for the fine-blanking presses required an extremely close-fitting die with matching top and bottom punches. Done right, there was no visible break line in the edges of the thick parts it pressed out. It was more like a powdermetal press than a sheet stock press. Amazing work he did, but alas he ended his career in machining at 55. Laid off, he could NOT find work in the field so he went into building maintenance and stayed for 18 years.

IN his shop now you can find him making repair parts for my nephew's shoe repair machinery, fixing anything that broke around the house or auto. He's done making hinges, wheel caps, handles and other stuff for his Chevy AstroVan now, as it died and was replaced with a Ford F150 that hasn't ever needed a thing. I find him making wood projects almost as often as metal. Recently I found him setting up his boring head on the Bridgeport to blow out a 12" hole with counterbores in MDF to help my youngest son make a custom subwoofer enclosure for his Mazda B3000 truck.

We are close and it's tough to see him having trouble with a form of asbestos related lung disease. So I do treasure every minute I still have, as does he. The shop and the things I've done to help him build it to what he always wanted is just a manifestation of the love I have for him, and I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to make him happier.

Anzaniste:
Paddy, you sound like top son to me . Both you and your Dad are blessed. Good luck to you.

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